Does anyone have their small dog go on pee pads instead of outside?

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All my pups use piddle pads, I gate them off in the kitchen when I'm not home, and leave the pad on floor for them. That way, when they do have to be crated for any reason, they don't associate it as their potty.

Yup. Lizzie learned to go on them at 5 weeks old (the day after we got her), since we now have a yard, she goes outside most of the time too, but when she wakes up in the morning she goes straight to her pad

I think it is very smart what you are doing, its good to train a dog to pee on a pad especially if you know you will be away often throughout the day and the dog will be alone. Better have her go to the toilet on the pad than all over your carpets. My mum has her dog trained to pee on a pad, the dog is now 3 she is trained to go outside when they are home, but the pad is left out for her at night and when they have to leave her locked in doors for a number of hours. it saves on having to clean up potential accidents. Because even the most highly house broken dog will have one.

I have to admit that I don't agree with using pee pads for a permanent solution. I think that it is kind of confusing to say ok you can go in the house but only here and the rest of the time go outside. Boots is 7 months old and 9 lbs (I don't expect him to get any bigger) and he was about 6 lbs at 5 months old so I think your pup might still have some growing to do. My boy sleeps in his crate from about 8:30 til between 5:30 and 6:30 and he has no accidents. I can also leave him in his crate for several hours at a time during the day with no problems. I think if you want to use pee pads and they work for you great, but if you want your puppy to go outside you need to start working with her and I think it will all work out fine.

I used pee pads for Ella for only the first three months after I got her, I put her in a x-pen with pads at one end when I could'nt keep my eyes on her and in a crate at night. I stopped the pee pads as soon as i could and trained her to go out side, she has'nt had pee pads since 5 months old and she is small, she is 3 lbs now at almost 1 year. But then again I dont work so I was home with her, if I were you I would put her in a x-pen with the pads at one end and her crate at the other and when home take her to out side to pee in the backyard.

That breeder's advice wasn't helpful. It's never a good idea to encourage a dog to potty inside their crate. That's counter-productive. The whole reason why crate-training works so well for potty training is because a dog won't naturally soil its den, which is what the crate is supposed to be for the pup=a safe den-like place. That's why the crate is only supposed to be big enough for the dog to turn around and lay down in, so they won't soil in it, plus dens are naturally that small. It often helps to put a crate cover on three sides, so the pup feels more secure.

A much better recommendation is to put your dog's correctly sized crate with the door open inside an ex-pen and lay the pee pads the farthest away from the crate opening as you can. Or fill that Xpen area with pads, and gradually get down to only having one pad in there. When your pup is more reliable, you can phase out the Xpen and possibly even the crate if you want, and still leave the one pee pad down in the same room. Some of Ian Dunbar's puppy raising books (sorry can't recall which title)have a picture of this type of setup. It's a good idea when people have to be gone for more than 8hrs a day, because your pup can also move around a bit more than just being in the crate.

Yes. My pom mix goes on pee pads. We live in a apartment with no real yard. I don't see the harm in pee pads that many may but I do agree with previous posters about the crate. Maybe move her to a bathroom with pee pads while you are gone during the day if you think its to long for her to be holding her pee.

At first I thought you meant as like an all the time thing. Not just for when you are at work. I was getting all fired up. Gettin' ready to get my rant on. Dogs should get to go outside. Good thing I read your post instead of jumping all the way to conclusions.

But, no. I don't use pee pads. I like dogs better than cats for the fact that I don't have to clean up after them (in my yard, when I walk them I do have to clean up poop). I'm a pet sitter, we do have the occasional people that use pee pads so the dogs have somewhere to go if they can't hold it while we are gone. I HATE cleaning them up.